She's Still Out There
by soothingsongs
Summary: The team head to L.A. to solve a case where Lila Archer is involved.  Lila is missing and they only have a few days to save her.  This case catches Reid's attention.


**Summary:** The team works the case on the abduction of three pregnant, blonde women and the sadistic murders of their fiancés. Everyone turns serious when a familiar face is seen on-screen as Hotch presents the case, and that causes Reid to put all of his concentration into finding the serial killer.

* * *

_**Quantico, Virginia**_

Derek Morgan was the first to be seated. He quietly awaited for the rest of the team to come since a new case was being brought to their attention. He asked Garcia about it, who was gathering the case file of the serial killer, but she said she hadn't read it yet. She then began to scan the first piece of paper in the folder when her eyes turned wide. "Derek, wait— um— does this name ring a bell?"

Morgan narrowed his eyes as he stared suspiciously at a frozen Garcia. "Babygirl, what's wrong?"

She shook her head a bit too quickly and sighed deeply. "Just tell me if this name rings a bell," she said all in one breath.

"What name?"

"Li—"

She turned her attention to the door when Reid and Prentiss entered.

"New case," Reid said with a sigh. His tone slightly hinted his lack of interest. "What is it on?"

"Looks like someone had a bad morning," Prentiss remarked.

"I did, actually. I had a sleepless night. Even though that happens _quite_ frequently, last night it was different."

Morgan and Prentiss didn't care if they showed little interest in his story.

"Nightmares again, Reid?" Morgan said plainly.

"Well, yeah. They've revisited my nights a couple of days ago. There is always this girl in my dream. She has no face, yet she looks _so _familiar. I know it's ironic because she looks familiar but has no face—"

He stopped rambling on until Rossi entered, with Hotch following behind seconds later. The team members shut their mouths and paid full attention to the screen on the wall. Garcia began to pass around copies of the case file for the team to look at and she sighed as she passed one of it to Reid. She kept quiet, though; she knew one of the names in the case file sounded familiar and she didn't want to see Reid's face when he heard it. She heard about the victim from Morgan, the guy who shamelessly teased Reid about relations with the said victim.

Hotch turned to the team. "Get ready. We're going to LA."

Of course, there were no jumps for joy or wolf whistles heard; the expression on Hotch's face was much more serious than usual. Besides, they were working on murders, kidnaps, and lurking into the minds of criminals. There was rarely time for joking around.

Hotch turned the screen on with one click of a remote, and up popped a picture of a blonde woman lying dead in the middle of the road. From the looks of it, she was between the ages of twenty five and thirty.

"Alexis Clark, twenty-nine. She's a news reporter," Hotch explained. "She was found dead on the side of the Harbor Freeway in Los Angeles. She was bruised, drugged, and. . ." Hotch sighed as another picture popped up. It showed the back of the dead woman.

On it were the words 'Sorry' carved in with a knife.

"A sign of remorse," Rossi acknowledged. Hotch nodded once.

"Reports show that she was pregnant but the baby wasn't due until July next year. She was reportedly missing a week ago."

Morgan looked up. "Hold on. You're trying to say that he _killed _the baby while it was still inside of her?"

Hotch answered. "He did. First, she was bruised painfully."

"Her back is almost completely marked," Prentiss whispered as she stared at the screen.

"Mother of all that is holy, I can't stare at this," Garcia muttered, breathing in deeply.

"Then she was drugged and . . . raped," Hotch continued.

"She suffered for nearly a week. She lived for a _week_ under _those_ conditions. What the hell is wrong with this world," Prentiss said.

Hotch continued on saying that there was a similar case that occurred a month ago. The victim was a blonde thirty-two year old. She was found on the same freeway and experienced the same torture. The same autopsy reports, the same location where the body was found, the same victimology. . . this was definitely the guy.

"One more thing," Hotch started. "Their fiancés were killed in their houses shortly before they were thrown onto the Harbor Freeway for everyone to see."

"Let's get this straight," Rossi said, "Our guy abducts one-month pregnant, well-known, blonde bride-to be's in their late twenties to early thirties, tortures them for several days, kills them after killing their baby while it's still in the womb, kills their fiancé soon after, then dumps them in a public place. Oh, and let's not forget the remorse."

Hotch nodded.

"Reid, you okay?" Morgan took a look at the man who sat next to him. Reid held a confused expression and was silent the whole time.

"She looks familiar. . . " he said, still entranced by the pictures of the dead woman on-screen. "I've— she was in my dream last night. _She was a friend of the faceless woman!_"

Rossi looked bewildered.

"Pardon?"

"I— I _dreamed _about her! She— she was using the exact same dress shown in the photo."

"It's just a coincidence, Reid," Morgan said. Reid was about to talk more about it, but Hotch continued on.

"Three women were reported missing yesterday after she was killed. It appears this UnSub is abducting at a faster rate. He's grown."

"He's more confident. No one found him the first time. No one found him the second time. Now he has three more victims," Rossi said. "I wonder who has the courage to kidnap and kill in Los Angeles. It's such a busy city, yet no one noticed anything."

A picture appeared on the screen. Hotch explained. "Casey Anne Walker, thirty-one. Missing since 6am yesterday. Her fiancé contacted the police right when he was getting ready for work."

Reid looked bewildered. He had seen the same person in last night's dream.

"Second is Jordin Anderson, twenty-seven. Reported missing since 1pm yesterday. Went out for a walk in the park."

Reid gasped. Images of this victim appeared in the dream too.

"And lastly. . ."

The photo of the last victim was shown on screen.

"Lila Archer, twenty-nine. Reported missing at 4pm from her home as well. Her fiancé came home from work and she wasn't home by 7."

Reid knew the girl in his dream looked and seemed familiar. It was Lila. He dreamed about Lila.

"Th—That's _Lila_!" Reid said her name at the top of his lungs. "She—She's missing. She. . . she was in my dream. She is in trouble. She—"

"Reid Reid Reid, calm down," Morgan ordered.

"What is he doing to her_ now_?" The nervous and anger-filled man paced around the room and thought of all the things that could be happening to Lila at that very moment. "He's hitting her right now. He's screaming at her and she's crying. She's—"

"She's _pregnant. _She's going to marry another man. She loves another man. She forgot about me," Reid continuously whispered these thoughts so that they filled his head. It angered him some more even though he knew it would happen eventually. He has always loved Lila even though their love only lasted for days. It's been four years and he hasn't gotten over her. That was one of the reasons he had doubts about dating. He thought he might see her soon, and he didn't mind that his thoughts were completely irrational. He had to excuse himself from the room.

"Who's Lila?" Rossi asked as Reid exited the room.

"She was one of the victims of a case and," Morgan sighed, "Reid got really close with her. _Really close. _The UnSub was obsessed with her and she was in danger, so Reid had to watch over her."

"They kissed in the pool," Garcia added.

"Saddened him when we had to leave. I thought he moved on," Morgan ended.

"Apparently not. It must be hard for him. She could be dead this very second," Prentiss said sadly. They stared at her. "I won't say that when he's around."

Reid went back into the room with a face rid of emotion. The room was dead quiet. Hotch broke the silence.

"As I said before, get ready. We're going to LA."  


* * *

**I will not continue this story. Writers' Block has struck.**


End file.
